The Flyers’ season was so bad last year that their remarkable turnaround this year has become an amazing afterthought in the minds of the local media.
We are almost three months into the new season and the Flyers have fluctuated between first, second, and third place all season, never falling more than two points out of the top spot in an incredibly competitive Atlantic Division. But all anyone ever wants to talk about, it seems, was last season, the worst season in Flyers history, ignoring the fact that this team almost has as many points now as they did last year at the end of the season. Why does the media constantly push negativity into the spotlight all of the time? Why can’t they let it go and focus on the good stuff instead of last year’s horrid effort?
Kimmo Timonen, Danny Briere and Jason Smith, three of GM Paul Holmgren's biggest offseason acquisitions, have all been monumental in the Flyers turnaround this season.
Sure, Peter Forsberg was to blame for most of what went on. When you come to the rink every day not knowing if your best player has two feet or not, it is tough to go into a game with any kind of plan to score goals. Yet, a lot of the players that were here last year are here this year and they have improved tremendously. Does Mike Richards remind of you Keith Primeau in the 2004 playoffs almost every night so far this year? Has Jeff Carter not become the bruising forward we all hoped he would become? What has changed? And why has no one said anything about it?
Is it John Stevens and his morbidly relaxed approach to the game? Is it the culture of the team changing with Paul Holmgren’s unbelievable moves toward the end of last year and in the offseason? Or is it simply the fact that Forsberg is gone and the team can now only rely on themselves to win games?
The turnaround started late last year, when Scottie Upshall seemed to bring a renewed energy to this team thanks to Foppa’s Fleecing of Nashville with his hard-nosed style of play. Suddenly, losses still piled up, but the team became competitive toward the end and even beat the Red Wings badly in one of the final games of the season.
Locking up Marty Biron was also a key move because, frankly, this team has not had a steady goaltender since Ron Hextall. No, John Vanbiesbrouck and Darren Boouregard, you do not count.
But if you look at the new young defensemen in Braydon Coburn and Lasse Kukkonen, you start to see why this team is better. They finally have speed on the blue line, something that would have won them a handful of Stanley Cups in the 90s had they had it back then. The additions of Kimmo Timonen and Jason Smith have provided the perfect leadership for a team sorely lacking it since Primeau retired.
It is a shame the whole Forsberg era did not work out. The man was the best player in the NHL when he was healthy. Without him, the Flyers probably do not even make the playoffs in 2005-06 either.
Also, don’t forget, there is talk that the Flyers are keeping salary cap room available in case Mr. Forsberg decides to give his feet one more shot at standing straight in the NHL. I am sure he knows what he caused around here last year and wants to atone for it by playing here again. Wouldn’t a healthy Forsberg look great on the power play with Danny Briere?
Everyone panics that this team has been playing inconsistently lately. To me, I would rather see this happen considering they are still mostly young and improving, and their best scoring forward is out with concussion problems. Boy, does that sound familiar.
Don’t forget about the Penguins game this past Tuesday, as well. When players start to stick up for each other like the Flyers did the other night, it breeds caring and winning streaks. I don’t think that kind of stuff would have happened last year, unless it was out of frustration.
No matter how many games they win and whether or not they make the playoffs, this team is 100 times better off than they were at this point last year. And you can be sure that in the end, everyone will let the Flyers know just how much worse they were.
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